The world outside

A good week?

It is quite easy to get very insular in this placement.  The hospital and the patients become your world.  For the patients, the inside of a large crowded ward literally is their world.  I mentioned a few blogs ago that we often took groups out to a small shaded area near the road - patients have started calling this 'the park'.  Some patients are really interested to see what is happening on the street and every car, person or horse drawn cart is of great fascination.

Just like the Cotswold's, but with
attitude!

We got permission to take one of the patients out to lunch last week.  I won't identify male or female or why.  However, it is probably only the third time that this person has been outside the hospital in the last 20 years.  In the UK they would never even be in an inpatient setting.  Great credit to the hospital management that when we went up to the ward they were dressed in new clothes with brand new shoes (taken away as soon as we got back).  We had planned to go to a small pub/eating place just along the road.  Previous volunteers have taken patients out there before.  On the way we popped in to the supermarket and our lunch guest was able to choose a few things for themselves and purchase them at the till. 

It would be lovely to post some pictures of the meal, but it wouldn't be right and in any case I wasn't allowed to take any.  We all had a lovely meal - with lots of coffee.  We then went across the road where they sell the most wonderful ice cream and have a small seated area.  We were a bit worried that it might be too much for the patient/guest to take in.  However, we saw them again today and they looked great.  I do hope the hospital starts to relax its attitude a bit more about going outside with the patients for future volunteers.

This has been quite a week in the news around the world.  The events in Norway just defy belief and my heart really goes out to the whole country.  Also, just last week I was listening to the great Tony Bennett (R4 Front Row) coming up to his 85th birthday and talking about how his duet with Amy Winehouse that he had just recorded was the highlight of the album.  He described a shy nervous girl who was also one of the greatest jazz singers he had sung with - and he has sung with them all.  What a loss.

Olivia



Day one.  She looks tiny in
Kiki's hands - and Kiki's
hands are tiny in themselves



This will be Olivia's last blog.  She gets her final injection this week and is then off to a new home.  We know the people she is going to a bit and Kiki has visited.  I am going to visit later this week, but have no concerns that it will be anything other than a lovely and loving home.  As I promised last week, I have included a short video of her just to show how she has got on over the last few weeks since we found her in the cruelest of circumstances.  She really is a living metaphor of so many aspects of our stay here in Romania and our work in the hospital.  - I was going to draw some of these out, but let's be honest it would be boring, I really can't be bothered, and you can work it out for yourself anyway.

We are going to miss her.

Other Stuff

Just a few assorted photographs to end with this week.

Definately not Joi la doi

We have a session once a week at Thursday 16:00 for 'open patients' (patients not locked/kept in their wards).  Coffee is handed out, lots of table tennis played, Remmy, Chess, DVD's (usually 'Stan si Bran' or Charlie Chaplain).  It is not enough time.  There should be a club like this open all the time for open patients to drop into.  Unfortunately, the closed patients get no freedom at all and we have to restrict the open sessions in order to give everyone a chance to attend.

Click to enlarge if you want
to read the text or see the
links

We have started to use the notice board outside the club.  Patients are very interested in this new poster announcing that 2011 is the European Year of Volunteering.  Kiki and I have been wearing one of those plastic armband things each.  Bright yellow, announcing (in Romanian) that it is good to volunteer.  Some of the women patients think its a bit strange that I am wearing a bright yellow bracelet. - Non of the men have noticed.  Men eh! Typical!  I spoke to a professional person in town about the work at the hospital a while back.  He spoke excellent English, but simply couldn't understand the concept of working for no money.  He thought it was his English that was letting him down as he asked for the tenth time, "Yes, but how much do you get paid?"

Snowy's Brother is very easily
differentiated from Snowy, but
only when you see them together

I have mentioned before that all stray animals have been given nicknames.  There is a lovely fluffy dog that wanders round the hospital who looks nothing like Tin Tin's dog - nevertheless I decided to call him snowy.  One day he appeared with an exact mirror image of himself who immediately got called Snowy's Brother.  The dogs tend to keep their distance, but have been know to chase people out of the hospital in the hours of darkness.  I wandered down to the old hospital pig sty's the other day.  Quite a growl came out of one of them so I decided to investigate no further.

A bold statement

Anyone who has wandered round an ex-communist country will have noticed the murals, mosaics and statues portraying strong family values and military superiority etc.  East Berlin is full of them.  This relief statue is in the ground of the hospital and quite tucked away.  The figures are slightly larger than life size.  The whole thing is made out of beaten and welded metal.  It is quite a feat of artistic endeavour.  Very symbolic and I have absolutely no idea what it is supposed to mean.  There are plenty of signs of communism in Romania.  The way 'mental health patients' are treated is one of them.

You can see our house from here

The housebuild opposite has not progressed much.  Probably waiting for Kevin McCloud and the camera crew to turn up.  However, they have built this lovely hill that the geese love to stand on.






Anyway, because the Olivia video took about an hour to upload, that's it for this week.

Pe Curand

Paul